Patty Jenkins has had an incredibly significant role in helping introduce Wonder Woman to the mainstream, serving as the director of Wonder Woman and the director and co-writer of the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984. Jenkins has become a bonafide fan-favorite amongst fans for her approach to the world of Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), allowing the character to be complex and three-dimensional in an array of ways. In a recent profile of Jenkins in Vanity Fair, the director spoke about how much of her approach to Wonder Woman was rooted in empathy.
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“That’s my favorite thing about her,” Jenkins explained. “Heroism involves keeping your love and compassion intact while you try to change the world. I love that about Wonder Woman and it was one of the things I felt the most passionate about being maintained, because it was something that I loved about her growing up. She was an inspiration and no part of her made me feel that I couldn’t also be a woman, and also be a mother, and also be a wife or a girlfriend or a partner. She’s a whole-bodied hero who stands for goodness, but also love and compassion and kindness. That’s where it was the most challenging—the world not thinking a female superhero could be powerful.”
Jenkins also spoke about wanting Wonder Woman to be more than just a conventional “strong female character”, something that has plagued representation of women in film and television.
“There’s been such fear that a female character…couldn’t be vulnerable and they couldn’t be funny and they couldn’t have love,” Jenkins added. “There’s this list of things they can’t have, to prove [that they’re strong]. I’m like, Well, that’s not a main character. You have to be able to have all these things. You can’t be afraid.”
Jenkins’ take on Wonder Woman will next be seen in Wonder Woman 1984, an epic blockbuster that will follow Diana in a previously-unseen setting.
Wonder Woman 1984 is set to be released in theaters on August 14th.
